Brisbane Roar sign Solorzano

The return of proven A-League goal-scorer Jean Carlos Solorzano to Brisbane Roar makes Mike Mulvey's side the red-hot favourites for the title.

Published

29 January 2014

The league leaders on Wednesday announced the return of one-cap Costa Rica international Solorzano, who scored 11 times as the Roar claimed the 2010-11 A-League title, on a deal until the end of the campaign.

Young forward Kwame Yeboah had burst onto the scene to provide the Roar with another striking option early this season, only for the 19-year-old to be snapped up by Borussia Mönchengladbach.

That left Brisbane short of options up front, with Besart Berisha and Henrique the club's only experienced strikers.

Dimitri Petratos demonstrated his potential value by netting a hat-trick in a 5-2 win over Sydney FC, but fellow youngsters Brandon Borrello, Patrick Theodore and Julius Davies are too inexperienced to make a meaningful contribution to the Roar's first team, potentially putting their title challenge in jeopardy as the sharp end of the season approaches.

However, Mulvey believes he has now found the man to add much needed depth to the Roar's forward stocks.

"As a club, we were looking for a quality player to add depth to the squad after the departure of Kwame Yeboah," the Brisbane boss said in a statement.

"We wanted to add a goal-scoring option off the bench, someone who is capable of scoring late goals and Nico is proven goal-scorer in this competition."

Solorzano ended a loan spell with the Roar to join Melbourne Victory, also on a temporary basis, ahead of the 2011-12 season. He failed to score in 14 appearances with the club and just a handful of those were starts.

However, don't let that poor return fool you into thinking the 26-year-old can't be the difference for Brisbane during the run-in and subsequent finals campaign.

Solorzano's short stint in Melbourne coincided with a tumultuous season that saw Mehmet Durakovic sacked and replaced by Jim Magilton.

Don't forget this was the chaotic regime which saw Kiwi starlet Marco Rojas also finish the campaign goalless, before setting the competition alight under Ange Postecoglou in 2012-13.

Solorzano has the pace and eye for goal to pick up any slack left by Berisha, Henrique and Petratos, and means the Roar can more than compete in the attacking stakes with direct title rivals Central Coast and Western Sydney.